The recruitment and succession of fouling organisms was examined on four substrata (concrete, plywood, fibreglass and aluminium) in Quibray Bay of Botany Bay in New South Wales, Australia. Eighteen 10×10 cm panels of each substratum were submersed in each of four seasons: January (summer), March (autumn), May (winter) and October (spring) 1992. Six of each substratum were retrieved after 1 month, 2 months and 4–5 months. Thus in this study, as a methodological improvement over many other studies of succession, samples were taken independently with regard to time.
Seasonal recruitment was important in determining the pattern of succession and the composition of the assemblage. Sydney Rock oysters, Saccostrea commercialis (Iredale & Roughley), recruited in large numbers on panels submersed in January and, by their rapid growth, dominated the available space after 4–5 months. The greatest recruitment of the barnacle Hexaminius sp. and the greatest percentage cover of algae (six species) occurred on panels submersed from October to March. While panels submersed in January for a period of 4–5 months resulted in a single outcome, an oyster-dominated assemblage, panels submersed in October for the same period of time resulted in a set of alternative outcomes depending on the relative abundance of barnacles and algae.